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“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.

(Aired 9/21/16)

The Ultimate Opportunity

– Lucha Underground’s third season has been a successful tale of “back to basics” if there ever was one. Highlighted in the opening video was Dario Cueto’s latest “original” concept, the “Dial Of Doom” (we like to call it the Wheel Of Torture) that was designed to randomly select opponents for his brother, Lucha Underground Champion Matanza Cueto, to defend his belt against. Son Of Havoc was the first unlucky victim, as we also saw Dragon Azteca Jr. run off Pentagon Dark when he threatened to break Rey Mysterio’s arm. Lastly, we saw the four-on-four standoff between Lucha Underground Trios Champions Drago/AeroStar/Fenix/Lucha Underground Gift Of The Gods Champion Sexy Star and The Worldwide Underground. Pleasantly, this hour focused on everybody shown there.

– The cutscene with Mysterio, DA and Guerrero set up a reason for a Chavo-DA bout, as the cocky veteran barged on a training session. Mysterio had urged DA to focus more on their “own battle” and less on Pentagon Dark. Another reference to this inevitable “war.” Not the most interesting bout to book, but at least you can use it to build up DA. What does Guerrero truly do these days anyway?

– Why exactly was Mariposa of all people included on the Dial Of Doom? Anyways, we had the next spin and found out that Matanza’s next challenger was The Mack. Now, that should be fun.

– The Lucha Underground Championship match between Champion Matanza and The Mack had a different feel from the Matanza-SOH bout, yet still served the same purpose. This was a smarter way to use Matanza, as an opening match “attraction” rather than an indestructible monster that crushed any and all. No, we didn’t think Mack had any chance to win, but that didn’t stop us from buying into it. Mack brushed onto the scene with immediate fists and the crowd was loudly in support. We also forget how agile the guy can be, as he shined with a pretty Tope Con Hilo and a stiff shoulder pounce. When it seemed like he had all the momentum, it came on a steep decline on a bullfrog splash attempt on Matanza’s knees to lead to the Wrath Of The Gods finisher to help Matanza retain. Yes, essentially a glorified squash given the circumstances, but nowhere near one in terms of quality. Also like that Matanza is set up as more vulnerable as the weeks pass, yet maintains his aura of dominance he had last season.

– The cutscene with SOH, “Linda” Havoc and Mascarita Sagrada helped us learn that MS had lived with SOH as they watched TV and cringed when Famous B’s “Get Fame” commercial appeared on the screen. Smart tie-in of MS to the storyline with his connection to Famous B. There was also a hilarious product placement moment where Mrs. Havoc cooked up some fierce Pizza Bagels for the boys. Perhaps SOH stands up to Dr. Wagner, Jr.?

– The cutscene in Cueto’s office with him, Johnny Mundo and Taya set up the main event Trios Title match with the development that Mundo wouldn’t partake because Cueto refused to give in to his World Title demands. There has been a great attempt to set up The Worldwide Underground as “the” lead heel group with Mundo as the leader and this only cemented that further. Taya’s portion revealed that she’d most likely take Mundo’s place in the main event.

– It seems like we’ll get more of Texano and Cage in action, which was surprisingly a good thing, as far as their match here. Cueto laid down a stipulation beforehand that the two were so similar because they lost out early on the “4 A Unique Opportunity” and he wanted to award one of them “The Ultimate Opportunity,” dependent on the match’s winner. Cage did a good job as he pandered to the crowd, yet kept up his intensity. Texano also worked better in the ring, with more of a purpose. Cage hit a stiff Tope Con Hilo where he landed on top of Texano’s neck, which was smartly worked over afterwards. After a reverse Boston crab submission and 360 discus lariat, it was enough for Cage to get the pin. Post-match, we found out from Cueto that the “Ultimate Opportunity” would go to Cage… if he won two more times, because it was to be a Best-Of-Five Series. Smart stuff.

– The cutscene in Cueto’s office with him, DA, Guerrero and Ricky Mandel gave us some more insight to El Jefe’s true intentions, upon the funny “Get Fame” box he received. There were some brutal pictures of dead babies and monsters (or something close to it) that he gave away to Mandel, who was amazed by it. The biggest development by far came with DA as he demanded a match with Pentagon and surprisingly got it. Guerrero ended it as he wanted to talk to Cueto, to which we never found out what it was about.

– The Lucha Underground Trios Championship match between Champions AeroStar/Drago/Fenix and Taya/Jack Evans/”Darewolf” PJ Black was entertaining from start to finish, with a nice story told as well. It was apparent there was dissension between Evans/Black, as they bickered constantly. The crowd had chanted for Evans, yet still mostly 50/50 on him. AeroStar truly shined here with his moves, most notably an outstanding springboard huracanrana he hit on Black. Taya acted as the “mother figure” as she tried to force Evans/Black to work together, until Evans came off the apron and pouted on the floor Indian-style, even as Black was pinned by AeroStar to retain. The post-match angle with Mundo and Sexy Star felt predictable, but made sense given recent events. Enraged from earlier, Mundo took out his aggression on the winners, as Evans stood in his spot before he slowly retreated with his associates. Sexy Star made the save on the boys for a nice twist and we had another eight-person standoff. This has to lead to a big match. It’ll also be fun to see if Evans eventually turns on the WU.

– The final cutscene in Cueto’s office with him and Mysterio gave us the final touch for next week’s (presumably) main event as we found out that Pentagon Dark was “erased” from the bout with DA and replaced with Guerrero, as he informed Mysterio that he’d serve as the Special Guest Referee. Guess this was a slow approach to get to build to the eventual Pentagon-DA bout. Good way to close it out.

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About Nicholas Jason Lopez

Just a 25 year-old Brooklynite. Nothing more, nothing less.
Currently Freelancing for The Bensonhurst Bean website in Brooklyn, he has also been published on sites such as Review Fix, College University of New York Athletic Conference, Dying Scene, Brooklyn News Service, All Media NY, BrooklynFans.com and Yahoo Voices.
He has also interned for The Home Reporter/Brooklyn Spectator based out of Brooklyn, NY.